Accessibility Audit
Do you really need to make your site accessible?
- Approximately 20% of Australians have a disability (ABS 2004).
- It is further estimated that around 10% of Australians have a disability that specifically affects their use of information and communication technologies.
- If your site is not accessible your business or organisation may be exposed to potential financial risk. For instance, SOCOG was ordered to pay $20000 damages under Australia's Disability Discrimination Act as their site was not accessible. Visit the HREOC site to read more about this case Maguire v SOCOG.
To accommodate users with a disability, your website should be designed and optimised for use by people with disabilities and should at least meet Priority 1 W3C checkpoints developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
To read more about accessibility and W3C go to our Resources - Accessibility section.
Our services - Accessibility Audit
Peak Usability uses automated assessment tools as well as manual evaluation techniques to determine the extent to which your website supports a wide variety of possible users (including those with disabilities).
It is our view that compliance with W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidlines will not necessarily ensure your site is accessible or usable for people with a disability. We also encourage clients to consider task based accessibility testing with vision impaired users. Peak Usability have a network of accessibility professionals that are able to provide these services.
For more information, please read our article Comparing website accessibility evaluation methods and learnings from usability evaluation methods (PDF, 195K).
An accessibility audit is often performed in conjunction with usability reviews and/or usability testing.
Deliverables - Accessibility Audit
We provide you with an accessibility evaluation report which highlights Priority 1, Priority 2 and if required, Priority 3 violations. This report includes the rationale for our recommendations, examples and where applicable, relevant code recommendations to improve the accessibility of your site or system.